Text-to-speech (TTS) systems have wide applicability in telecommunications systems. These systems employ TTS engines to provide conversion of text files (e.g., voice response scripts and prompts, e-mail messages, etc.) to audio or spoken messages. That is, such TTS systems render text-based information using synthesized speech, typically invoking a TTS engine each time an audio rendering of text is required. It is recognized that sophisticated TTS capability is an expensive system resource in terms of resource utilization and development; further, if a telecommunication service provider employs TTS technology developed by a third party, the cost of licensing the technology can be high. Conventionally, systems that render text over audio interfaces do not perform any analysis of the text to ensure efficient synthesized speech generation, utilization, and management. Accordingly, efficient use of such costly resources would entail a reduction in the cost of such systems, resulting in greater profitability for the telecommunication service provider.
Moreover, it is recognized that the speech synthesis services of conventional TTS systems, in part because of the expense, are aimed at a narrow set of users, thus making availability very limited. Traditional deployment of TTS systems require specialized, proprietary implementations to particular subscribers, which typically are large telecommunication service providers. It is impractical for small entities to incur the cost of a TTS system or even a full license. Thus, such users have to settle for less advanced TTS technologies or foregoing the benefits of such technologies altogether.
Therefore, there is a need for a TTS system that operates with greater efficiency in terms of invocation of the TTS engine, thereby reducing operational cost. In addition, there is a need for a mechanism to enhance availability of TTS services to a diversity of users.